LIVERPOOL is set for a mass wake-up call in time for Capital of Culture year in 2008.

LIVERPOOL is set for a mass wake-up call in time for Capital of Culture year in 2008.

A team of horologists has launched a mission to get every public clock in the city ticking again in the next five years.

A feasibility study has already identified six potential candidates in north Liverpool, dating back to the late 1800s and early 1900s.

They including a six-faced clock at Salisbury Dock, designed in 1843 so workers could see the time whichever part of the dock they were on.

Others under consideration include two 100-year-old four-faced clocks at Anfield Cemetery, and a listed clock tower on the former Walton hospital site, currently at the centre of a new housing development.

The project, entitled Time To Get Things Moving was commissioned by regeneration body the Atlantic Partner-ship in a bid to revitalise the area for residents and visitors.

Peter Seddon, communications officer for the AP said: "Many of these clocks have been here for more than a hundred years, but over time people have forgotten about them and they have stopped working.

"If people see these big old timepieces starting up again it should be a really positive thing for the area. The idea is people will feel they are in a place that is moving, where things are happening.

"Time has stood still for too long in Liverpool, and we are hoping that by 2008, people coming into Liverpool will be able to view these clocks as working landmarks that represent our local heritage."

Clockmakers JB Joyce of Whitchurch in Shropshire, which made several of Liverpool's clocks including the one at Salisbury dock, is carrying out the study.

Managing director Keith Cotton believes there are around 100 stopped clocks within a five-mile radius of Liverpool city centre.

It is hoped the project will be rolled out across the rest of the city's six regeneration areas in the next five years, using lottery and neighbourhood renewal funding.

Mr Cotton explained his team is just about to begin detailed individual examinations of each clock, to calculate restoration costs for each one by the end of this year. Each job coul d range from &#xA3;500 to &#xA3;20,000.

He said "Liverpool compares quite favourably to other cities, it has a lot of really nice examples of clocks dating from the late 1800s right up to the present day.

"There are a couple, one at Salisbury Dock and one at Anfield Cemetery that would be an absolute joy to restore. "We have only looked at the Salisbury clock from a distance so far, but it looks like a very good example from the Victorian era.

"It hasn't worked for a number of years, and we believe the tower is infested with pigeons but with a bit of work it could be a very nice landmark.

"Some older clocks still contain the original Victorian movements and would have needed winding once a week.

"That would be quite difficult to keep up, so we are considering replacing the mechanics with electric circuits which are much cheaper and easier to maintain."

Others include a 1900s clock on the Plough Hotel in Rice Lane, Walton, a 50-year-old clock on a community centre in St Domingo Road, Everton, a 100-year-old clock on the TSB bank, West Derby Road, and a late 1800s clock at the former Rushworth's building on St Anne's St.

Also being considered are a late 1800s clock on St George's Church on Everton Park Hill and one at the Arkles public house in Anfield, believed to be early 1900s.